Many network providers implement a “data cap”, which limits the amount of data a user may consume, penalty free, over a period of time (for example, a month). If the user consumes more data than the cap allows, the provider may cut them off entirely from data, throttle their data to a very slow level, or impose exorbitant charges for overages. Existing technology lets users use data as fast as they want until they are suddenly cut off, throttled, or hit with an exorbitant charge.
Adaptive video bitrate (ABR) algorithms exacerbate this problem by balancing the bitrate (or quality of the video) with the current network conditions, with the goal of having the highest bitrate video possible.